Chapter 325

[ 1,027 words ]

Talia’s POV

Nolan got to Annie before I did. He walked across the grass with his hands open and stopped a few feet away so he wouldn’t scare her.

“You are safe. We are taking you to Moonbrook,” Nolan said.

Annie kept her eyes on Nolan. Her arms stayed tight around Marco’s neck, and when Nolan reached for her, she jerked away.

“Annie, this is Alpha Nolan. He’s my real mate. He won’t hurt you,” I said, hoping to comfort her. Annie looked back and forth between us but still held onto Marco. “Come here, sweetheart. Everything is okay.”

I opened my arms. Marco moved forward and gently encouraged Annie to come to me. When she reached out, I hugged her, and she held me tightly, pressing her face into my shoulder.

“Do not leave me at Moonbrook. Please, Luna, please. Do not leave me there. I don’t want to be alone,” Annie pleaded. My heart hurt for her. I was the only person she trusted now that she thought her father was gone, and he might really be gone this time.

“It is only for a little while, Annie,” I said softly. “Alpha Colin is a good man. He will keep you safe until everything is resolved.”

“Will you come back?”

“I will come back. The moment the war is over, I will come back for you, and I will take you home with me. I am not abandoning you.”

Annie’s voice was hushed against my chest while she breathed. After a moment, she nodded against my shoulder. “Okay, Luna.”

Colin met us just inside the wall. As soon as he saw me, he hurried down the steps, crossed the courtyard, and hugged me so tightly I had to lean in to keep my balance. “Nice seeing you too, Colin,” I managed, breathless.

“Thank the Goddess,” Colin said while releasing me. “We thought for a moment that…”

“I’m alive, that’s what matters,” I said, cutting him off.

Colin nodded. “We were so worried,” he said, and then he stopped. “We can talk about that later. I had rooms made up for both of you. Once you’ve cleaned up, come to my office. We have a lot to discuss.”

An hour later, Annie and I were clean and ready to speak with Colin. I wanted more time to just decompress, but I knew we had to speak on this now, as Jason was probably already planning his next move. Annie went and sat near the window with her hands in her lap.

Colin sat at his desk. Nolan sat next to me and wrapped his arm tightly around my shoulders, like he was afraid I might disappear.

“Tell us what happened, Annie, from the beginning,” Colin instructed. “Start with the morning Robin disappeared.”

Annie lowered her gaze to her hands and paused, collecting her thoughts before she spoke.

“Father went on a trip. He left Silverfang with some others. They were going to Fangvale. He told me he would be back in a few days.”

“And then?”

“He did not come back. I waited for a week. One night, I overheard that Father had been injured in a rogue attack on the road and had vanished when they returned with help. The next morning, I decided to go look for him myself.”

“Annie, why didn’t you tell anyone?”

“No one was telling the truth. And Father had already gotten into trouble. No one was going to help,” Annie said, and my heart ached deeply for her. It hurt to see how alone she felt, carrying all her fear and doubt on her own.

“How did you end up with Jason?” Colin asked.

“I left through the side gate when nobody was watching. I went down the road that led toward Fangvale. I had been walking for an hour when Alpha Jason came up to me. He was walking the same road. He said he had been looking for me. He told me he had taken Father to a healer because nobody else would, and told me he’d take me to him,” Annie replied.

“He told you Robin was dead?”

“Yes. He said the healers had tried, but they could not save him. He said I had no one. He said I belonged to him now, and he would feed me to the rogues if I disobeyed him.”

I tried to stay calm as I listened, feeling sick at how Jason had taken advantage of a child.

“Alpha Jason forced me to take a pill. It made me feel like I was floating. Then he sprayed perfume on me, and everything wasn’t so scary anymore. He told me to go to the rose garden at Silverfang and wait for Luna. He said she would follow me.”

Nolan’s hand clenched on my shoulder. I placed my hand over his in an effort to calm him.

“I waited. I meant everything I said, Luna,” Annie continued. “When you hugged me, you fainted. I wasn’t scared because you got up after a few minutes. The men took you and put you in a car, and we went to the dark place.”

“I don’t remember this,” I said. “I was unconscious for two days.”

“What was the dark place?” Colin asked.

“It was the place with no windows. There were guards everywhere. It is where Alpha Jason took after he told me Father was dead,” Annie answered softly.

“Can you tell us what happened there? Take your time,” Colin coaxed.

“It’s where he whipped me. He whipped me until I did things right. He wanted me to call him Alpha Nolan. I didn’t know why because he was Alpha Jason,” Annie continued after a moment.

I froze, trying to take in what Annie said. Jason hadn’t looked like Nolan to her. So, was it an illusion or had Jason done something else to me?

It seemed like Nolan was thinking the same thing I was and asked, “Did the packhouse or gardens look like Bloodmoon?”

“No, the packhouse was dark and scary. The garden outside was dead. No flower,

just dead bushes and dirt,” Annie replied.

“And the people in the house, sweetheart. What did they look like?” I asked.

“They looked like themselves, Luna,” Annie answered.

“Did it look like the Bloodmoon pack to you at all?”

“No, Luna.”

“What did Jason look like to you?”

“He looked like Alpha Jason. He looked like he always looked.”

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